Title: Battle Royale
Author: Koushun Takami
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: 10 May 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0575080492
Synopsis
a class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted
island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are
electronically collared, provided with weapons of varying potency, and
sent out onto the island.
If they are in the wrong part
of the island at the wrong time, their collars will explode. If they
band together to save themselves a collar will explode at random. If
they try to escape from the island, they will be blown up. Their only
chance for survival lies in killing their classmates.
Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where
it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a
Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, and a potent story of politics
and survival in a dog-eat-dog world.
My Review
When the Hunger Games first game out and I talked to my friend about it she told me it sounded an awful lot like a Japanese story she had read. She told me the basic outline and I agreed their were similarities but it didn't bother me. It seems she wasn't the only one to think it the internet exploded with people saying Hunger Games had 'ripped this story off' etc. Having never read this I couldn't judge.I love the Hunger Games and always will but I decided I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
I requested this book from the library quite a while ago and even once it had arrived I didn't pick it up. My friend warned me that it was quite gory, and as a wimp it put me off. It remained in my tray at work, but when I had 15 minutes to pass yesterday I picked it up.
Now to get the whole Hunger Games thing out of the way - apart from the fact a group of children are put together and told to kill each other - that is where the similarities end. The books are very different and stand very well on their own two feet. For one in the HG everyone knows what is going on and the people going into the arena are trained and have warning, in this the kids are just thrust in with no warning at all, and it's more friend against friend as they are all from the same class. This is brutal!
This book is very gory, although I had been warned I was still shocked and put off in places by the level of gore. Takami has no problem describing all sorts of horrendous wounds, guts and blood included in detail. I actual found myself trying to look away in some places and skimming other really violent bits. The deaths themselves seem to be in more detail than necessary, nothing is left to the imagination, yet all the images formed in my mind and made me cringe. I certainly couldn't watch the film of this, the images conjured in my head were bad enough without seeing them played out in a film.
Basically the Government randomly selects a class of students and sends them on a 'field trip' but it's a cover, all of the students (classes average at 40 pupils) are knocked out and taken to an island. Once there they are all given a backpack which contains some basic survival equipment and a weapon. These weapons range from a fork to knives and various guns. They are then told that they must kill each other and only one student will be left alive. To ensure they comply they are all fitted with a metal collar which tracks their movements and can be detonated to kill any of them. As the 'Program' takes place more areas on the island become out of bounds drawing students out of hiding and force them to face off.
There are main characters - Shuya, Naroki and Shago are pretty much the 'protagonists' but I liked that they didn't tell all of the story. Many chapters are told from other students points of view. Some of them get multiple chapters and a more developed story whereas others appear just to be killed.But it gave everything a more rounded perspective and I liked getting to see other points of views.
I did get slightly confused with the names - as there were so many characters, a lot of which you only see briefly I got a bit lost with who was who, and a lot of them had similar names like Yoku and Yoka. But I kind of just glazed over their names at times and tried to keep up more with what was happening.
It took me a while to get into the story, it starts on the bus on the way to their 'field' trip and Shuya is describing who is on the bus. This is set out almost like a 'register' of students, he describes who is sitting where, names and class number, but with so many being described and introduced I couldn't keep up with who was who at that point, and of course being at the beginning of the book none of them were really relevant so I wasn't particularly interested at that point. But once they get to the actual island it started to pick up pace.
I can't really say that I enjoyed the book, it's too gory and disturbing for that, but I appreciate the writing and think it was well done. It was a 'good book' but for me just a bit too dark and disturbing. I wanted to know more about why the government ran this program, what was behind it, and how come with so many pupils disappearing over the years - why did they not suspect anything. Trust me, if I knew kids disappeared on Field Trips to go into the program I would avoid all field trips at all cost. This just seemed really random and I would have liked more to explain the purpose of it.
I quite liked the ending there were certain characters I wish had escaped throughout and one late death that I was really saddened by, but overall I liked the end.
At 617 pages this book is quite hefty and I was worried it would take me a long time, but it didn't at all. I had to do it over 2 days as i couldn't read it too late at night, but apart from that I pretty much whizzed through and I wanted to know how it would turn out.
I can understand why it was hyped up, it is well written, gripping and very involved. It will certainly get your heart pumping.
My Rating
I don't think I can actually rate this book, I did find it compelling and gripping but I'm not sure I exactly 'enjoyed' it, it was too gory and brutal for that. I certainly didn't 'love' it, but then it's too well written to be classed as 'Average'. So in this sense I am in a bind. So on this occassion I will just leave it with a simple summary.
"Compelling read that will have you turning pages and gripping your seat, packed with action and writing that will certainly have your blood pumping, but also very violent and gory. Not for the faint-hearted!
Title: Bunheads
Author: Sophie Flack
Publisher: Atom
Release Date: 1 Mar 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1907411274
Synopsis
As a dancer with the
Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward is living her
childhood dream. She gets to be up on stage in front of adoring crowds
every night. And while she might not be a prima ballerina yet, she's
moving up the ranks and surely if she works hard enough she can make it
happen.
But devoting her whole life to ballet leaves very little
time for anything else: friends, family, school have all fallen by the
wayside. Hannah doesn't mind, until a chance encounter in a restaurant
brings Jacob into her life. He's cute, he plays guitar and he's offering
a whole future that Hannah never considered. And now she must choose
between her lifelong dream or what could be the love of her life...
My Review
I saw this on the blogs a lot last year and thought it looked interesting but never did anything about it. Then on Thursday someone dropped it in to our library, it wasn't our copy which was why I hadn't seen it before. So instead of sending it back to it's home branch I decided I would borrow it first.
I had a rare evening in last night, so I finished the book I was already halfway through and then opened this one.
This isn't my usual read but I enjoy taking a break and reading something different like this. I was sure I would enjoy it and I wasn't disappointed. I read about 220 pages last night, I stayed up to about 12.30 but then my eyes were getting too heavy to read. I didn't want to put the book down but I had to. So I finished it in my lunch break today.
Hannah is 19 years old and training with the Manhattan Ballet Company. She's wanted to be the Prima Ballerina since she was five and has devoted her life to dance. After years and years of hard work she is still just a background dancer, but she's starting to get noticed more and promotion could be within her reach. But then she meets Jacob on a rare night off, he's cute, polite and funny, and has a 'real' life. Hannah has to decide what is more important to her, starting a relationship or dedicating herself to dance. The ballet has always been her first choice, but is it worth it.
This is a great novel to just lose yourself in, I became totally immersed in Hannah's life and wanted to know more. There is a lot of ballet terminology in the story, but I did know what most of them meant, having read other books and seen films with ballet in so I wasn't hindered at all.
Hannah is really likeable and her personality really shines off the page. It was quite cool to read too as it sort of gave you an insight into the crazy life of professional dancers, to backstage, rehearsals, costume, performances and yes even diets. They certainly don't have it easy, I'm not sure I would have enough dedication to go all the way.
Hannah introduces us to everyone in her life, the group of dancers she hangs out with, including super rich, slightly bitchy Zoe - Hannah's biggest competition but oldest friend. Her dance teachers, wardrobe, physical therapy and stage hands. I like how they all play a very different part in her life but help make everything so much more realistic. I loved how the girls interacted, both as 'friends' and as 'dancers' and how they would change depending on where they were.
They could all be very self-centered at times, but that's the way that life is, to get ahead you have to be 100% involved and willing to give up everything around you. I liked how Hannah's internal struggle was written, I could totally empathise with her and I wanted her to be happy.
I will say I was disappointed with the ending, I mean, it was good for Hannah and she does have plans but they were not what I expected after reading the book. I really wanted her to find another way round things. I'm trying not to give too much away. I can see why Sophie Flack did it and it does make sense, I guess I'm just used to fairytale endings and fantasy ideas - that anything can work. Thinking about it, this ending was the only real option but in my mind, she finds a way.
Overall a very enjoyable read that had me hooked. Really glad I picked it up and I really liked Sophie's writing style - I will be looking out for more by her.
My Rating
Title: When You Reach Me
Author: Rebecca Stead
Publisher: Andersen
Release Date: 6 Jan 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1849392129
Synopsis
Miranda's life is starting to unravel. Her best friend,
Sal, gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason,
and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The key that Miranda's mum keeps
hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives:
'I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own.
I ask two favours. First, you must write me a letter.'
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realises that whoever is
leaving them knows things no one should know. Each message brings her
closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the
final note makes her think she's too late.
My Review
I saw a review for this on on a blog I follow a lot 'Girls Heart Books' which said they had used it with a book group and it spurred a lot of discussion. As I run a book group I thought I would request it from the library to give it a try.
My first reaction to finishing this book was 'What?!' I honestly had no idea what I had just read. I was confused and not entirely sure what the point was. But let me go back a bit.
The storyline is set in 1978/79 and follows the story of Miranda. Miranda is a 6th Grader who absolutely loves the book 'A Wrinkle in Time' which I will confess right now that I have never read it. She constantly re-reads the story but I'm not sure she particularly understands everything in it, the time travel seems to confuse her a little bit.
Miranda starts to receive mysterious notes which know things they shouldn't be able to know.
I have to admit to being confused throughout the book, I couldn't see where it was going. It was set up as a 'mystery'- with Miranda trying to find out who sent the notes, what they meant, why her friend stopped talking to her, what it's like to grow up, and what to do with the notes. But to be honest I wasn't particularly curious, I was just waiting for everything to come together but then when it did I didn't particularly care.
Saying that I didn't hate the book or anything, it was fairly easy to read and quit short. The characters each had their own charm, some I liked more than others. Marcus I found the most interesting, but it just seemed to drag a bit and jump off on random information.
It all comes down to the question of time-travel. I've said before I'm not a fan of time-travel in stories and I have to be really interested and it has to be done in a certain way to captivate me and this just didn't.
There is a sub-plot to the story, Miranda's mother has been chosen to appear on the Pyramid Game on TV. I have actually heard of this and quite enjoy it. Basically it's a word association game where you get given words and have to guess what associates them. Miranda helps her mum practice and I enjoyed their easy relationship, and it was a fun input in the book but it didn't really seem all that relevant to the actual story apart from the link with one of the letters.
Maybe if I had read 'A Wrinkle in Time' I would have enjoyed it more, maybe it just wasn't my sort of read but I just didn't get it. It just left me feeling confused and a bit deflated.
The chapters would make interesting discussion as each one is a 'category' like off the game show, e.g 'Things you hide', 'things that are yellow', etc. I can see my book group coming up with funny things to fit.
My Rating
